Rochfort Mill

Detached single-storey over basement former corn mill on a T-shaped plan, built c.1810. Site now derelict, out of use and largely overgrown. Pitched natural slate roof with cast-iron rainwater goods and rendered chimneystacks. Roughcast rendered finish over random rubble stone construction. Square-headed doorways with timber sheeted doors. Pointed-arched window opening to north gable with timber sash window. Timber waterwheel to north gable. Internal machinery and fittings largely still intact. Millrace and remains of former millpond to north. Outbuildings and mill house (15402621) to east and south.

Located just west of the main Tullamore to Mullingar road this corn mill is of modest proportions yet forms a significant part of the industrial heritage of Westmeath. This complex is of particular importance and merit as it appears to have remained virtually unaltered and with a full complement of mill related structures, including head and tailraces races, mill pond, associated outbuildings and a former millers house (15402620). It retains much of its early timber and cast-iron machinery, including the remnants of an early timber waterwheel to the north gable. Survival of early machinery is now very rare, which helps to add importance to this functional complex. This corn mill probably dates to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth-century, which was a boom period for the Irish corn milling industry. It forms an interesting pair of related structures with the former miller’s house to the south (15402620) and is a worthy addition to the industrial heritage of Westmeath, along with the ancillary elements of this complex including the outbuildings and watercourses. This is a largely unique and untouched site and is a rare find in today's landscape.